Samizdata quote of the day

Here’s the problem: the global economy has gone tits up. We are doomed. And nowhere is more doomed than Europe whose Monopoly-money currency is going the way of the Zimbabwe dollar and the Reichsmark, and whose constituent economies are so overburdened by sclerotic regulation and so mired in corruption, waste and the kind of institutionalised socialism which might work just about when the going’s good but definitely not now sir now sirree.

And what, pray, is the European Union’s solution to this REAL problem which has already led to riots and death in one country and which could well lead to many more in the horror years to come? Why, to impose on its already hamstrung, over-regulated, over-taxed businesses yet further arbitrary CO2 emissions reductions targets, which will make not the blindest difference to the health of the planet, but which will most certainly slow down economic recovery and make life harder and more miserable for everybody.

In Britain, David Cameron is wedded to the same suicidal policy – on the one hand brandishing £6.5 billion cuts in government spending as though this were a sign of his maturity and his commitment to reducing Britain’s deficit, while on the other remaining committed to a “low carbon” economy set to destroy what’s left of our industry and cost the taxpayer at least £18 billion (yep – almost THREE times as much as the pathetic cuts announced so far by his pathetic chancellor) a year.

8 comments to Samizdata quote of the day

A recent comment in a paper suggested that Eurotopia could be in for a decade or so of recession, like Japan suffered. Both zones like government interference, after all. I think the European ‘solution’ will be … wait for it… More of the same!!! More government.
Perhaps we should change one of our proverbs. Instead of fighting fire with more fire, we should try (here’s an out-there idea!) fighting fire with some of that wet stuff called watre. Fighting fire with water might lead to fighting over-government with less government. Just an idea to try out….

I wish you could have found someone else to quote to the same effect. I came to this Delingpole bloke with an open mind, but found myself wincing and cringing about 11:30 into this, and I don’t wince easily. It doesn’t help knowing that he’s surrounded by eminent scientists. It also doesn’t help that the eminent scientist next to him wears an expression of weary embarrassment from start to finish.

“James Delingpole would make a much better Prime Minister than Mr Cameron”

So would Tinky Winky.

“also he writes well.”

That covers a multitude. He can turn a phrase, but I wouldn’t go to him for an argument. In the comments to this post, a contributor named benc34 calls him quite politely and relevantly on the “pack of lies” accusation, and he can’t answer except to sniff “trolls” and ignore the poster. This is moderate to dismal. In the Heartland speech video, he also comes out with the old canard about Rachel Carson being a mass murderer – worse, in front of scientists who must in many cases be aware of the issues involved, which scarcely warrant such glibness. Some of the happy-clappy stuff in that speech was just toe-curlingly embarrassing, given the audience. OK, he got the odd laugh. But then, so did David Icke on Wogan.

“As for his speaking style – I am a Midlander, my vowels are as flat as a pancake, so I am not in a good place to attack someone else’s way of speaking.”

Yes you are. Attacking someone else’s way of speaking is one of the few pleasures still permitted to the native Briton. (Or at least I hope so: I make a living out of it.)

“However, actually I do not thing he speaks badly. Nor is really that upper class – a lot of people used to speak like that.”

I still do. But then again, I have been out of the country for 25 years, if that’s any excuse. I speak a weird variant of English called EFL RP, pioneered by folks like Leo Jones and the Soarses. It’s only slightly less Oxfordy than Delingpole, and I would guess more than Cameron, though I haven’t yet found the time to hear the latter actually say anything. (Does he speak at all? Or does he just simper in long sentences?)

Who Are We?

The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.